1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital cameras in which an object image to be recorded is converted to electrical signals have been developed. In a digital (still) camera, an object image formed by a photographing lens is converted to electrical analog signals by an image pickup device, such as a CCD. The analog signals are converted to digital signals which are recorded in a memory means such as a compact flash memory card or a smart medium at a predetermined format, or a recording medium such as a magnetic disc or a photomagnetic disc, etc.
The size of an image pickup surface (light receiving surface) of a CCD image pickup device is approximately in the range of 1/4 to 1/2 inches (diagonally) and is smaller than a size of 35 mm silver-halide film. The light receiving surface is provided thereon with hundreds of thousands of pixels, the size thereof being a few micron meters (.mu.m) each side. Therefore, if there is fine dust in front of the CCD image pickup device, the shadow (image) thereof is enlarged and projected onto the light receiving surface. Consequently, the image (shadow) of the dust is projected onto a number of pixels on the light receiving surface, so that the enlarged shadow is imaged thereon. To prevent this, a light path in front of the CCD image pickup device must be constructed so as to prevent foreign matter such as dust from sticking thereto.
If the light path in front of the CCD image pickup device is made airtight, the thickness of the CCD image pickup device and the sealing construction is increased, and hence the accommodation space (i.e., the length in the optical axis direction) of the camera body in which the photographing lens is retracted and accommodated when it is not used is too small (too short) to receive the entirety of the photographing lens in the accommodation space, thus resulting in difficulty in providing a thin camera body.